The stereotype of the unattractive/bland female nerd/geek has been changing quite a bit. One group that shows you can be sexy and a geek is the SuicideGirls. They put on a titillating burlesque show at San Diego Comic-Con and I was able to speak with Missy Suicide who founded the SuicideGirls in 2001!
What is it like working for SuicideGirls?
It is a dream come true, an all consuming dream that takes a ton of work, but a dream none the less. I still come to work everyday with a smile on my face and love what I do. Our brand encompasses so much, there is always something new and interesting and challenging to work on. Whether it is the Burlesque Tour, booking it, promoting it or coming up with new numbers. Working on a new movie or going through the site to find interesting blogs, group topics or events to feature on the main page of the site. Meeting girls who are visiting from around the world. Arranging to go to a shootfest in a fabulous foreign location with dozens of girls or trying to convince Cameron Stewart that now is the time to write the next SuicideGirls comic book. Or the 3 million other things that encompasses a day, it is all a fun and interesting challenge.
For those who may not know, what is SuicideGirls?
We’re a group of girls who have been publishing provocative nude photos online since 2001. We celebrate a different kind of beauty than what you see in the rest of media. There are about 3000 SuicideGirls and we have about 15 million followers across our social media accounts. We publish books, we make movies, comic books, and we put on the most popular burlesque show in the history of the United States.
You have a burlesque show at Comic-Con. Why don’t you tell me about that? What brought SuicideGirls to San Diego Comic-Con?
We have been coming to Comic-Con for almost a decade now. We are always super excited to do Comic-Con every year. It is the most fun show as it brings so many true fans together from around the world. It is people who love geek culture in all forms, pop culture, comics, cosplay, gaming and everyone exists together in this happy utopia for 5 days. It’s insanely crowded but everyone is so cool to one another it isn’t overwhelming. You can kind of just get caught up in the flow of things and know that no matter where you look there will be something amazing to see, a girl dressed up like She Hulk, The Lego Booth, Black Milk booth, your favorite comic artist or the cast of Game of Thrones just walking by, there really are no wrong turns at Comic-Con.
We try to bring our A game to Comic-Con. We try out more numbers and dancers at Comic-Con than we do on our Fall Tour, so the show is a bit longer and more involved than our touring show. It’s also a bit more unpolished and we bring some geekier themes to see how the audience reacts. The energy of the Comic-Con crowd is not easily duplicated. It is one of our favorite shows to play all year.
What is different about the SuicideGirls’ burlesque show vs traditional burlesque shows?
The SuicideGirls: Blackheart Burlesque show is a pop culture themed show. Each number is our homage to something that we geek out about movies, tv shows, comic books, video games, you name it. It takes the same sexy spirit of classic burlesque and updates it with a kick ass, eclectic, modern soundtrack and highly choreographed routines from some of the most gorgeous unique beauties on the planet. It is impossible to leave without a smile.
How long have the SuicideGirls been doing burlesque?
In the same way the photos on suicidegirls.com take the sexy spirit of classic pin-up photos and creates a modern version of femininity; we wanted to put our own spin on classic burlesque and bring the same confident energy that we conveyed in our images to life through our geeky, fun filter. When we first put out our SuicideGirls Burlesque tour in 2003, we were the only people who were doing non-traditional, non-old fashioned burlesque on a large scale. We were excited to put on a sexy performance that didn’t involve feather boas and songs like Hey Big Spender. We wanted to use modern music and references to modern pop-culture but still put on a show in the spirit of old time burlesque. Now, a dozen years later, there are a lot more non traditional burlesque acts around, and some of them are doing really fun and different kinds of shows. The Star Wars Burlesque is a great example of just how diverse and non traditional the Burlesque scene has become. Also, look at the spectacle performers like Lady Gaga put on at live shows. People have seen a lot and it’s much harder to show them something that really feels new and original. So, clever Quentin Tarantino Burlesque numbers and a leather pants AC/DC striptease is just not enough to wow people these days. We really had to take the spirit of pop-culture modern burlesque that we pioneered over a decade ago and up the production values, sexiness and performances by a factor of ten. It’s the same kind of Burlesque show we used to do, but we have executed at a much higher level in almost every respect: dancer abilities, costumes, choreography, everything.
Where can people buy tickets?
They can buy tickets to the Fall US tour and our international shows here: http://blackheartburlesque.com
SuicideGirls attend conventions and often have a booth. How many conventions do they attend a year and which ones?
We attend quite a few comic and tattoo conventions throughout the year. Hell City, WonderCon, SDCC and so on. We go to about a dozen cons a year. We love coming to conventions and getting to meet our fans face to face. Plus we get to have our own fan girl moments at cons with the other exhibitors 🙂
What other events are the SuicideGirls involved in?
We have the website, coffee table books, comic books, movies, merchandise, we attend conventions. Our Burlesque show is touring the country this Fall and playing a few international shows as well.
Where can people learn more about suicide girls and their events?
People can follow us in social media
facebook.com/suicidegirls
instagram.com/suicidegirls
twitter.com/SuicideGirls
suicidegirls.tumblr.com
@SuicideGirls on periscope,
twitch, snap chat, vine, et all
You can find all of our tour dates at blackheartburlesque.com
Of course go to suicidegirls.com to keep up on all of our goings on!
Anything you would like to add?
I think that covers it!
Thank you!
These ladies are phenomenal dancers! Their burlesque show definitely has a modern/edgy feel to it. The choreography is impressive; the group numbers and the solo performances are fantastic! The other thing I admired was when the show was getting started, host Katherine Suicide talked about what the photography/video recording rules were for the evening and her co-host Sunny Suicide interrupted saying that the audience could take pictures or videos of anything. Sunny went on to say that not all the angles and lighting would be flattering to the girls but that it was okay because they are all real women. These ladies are so comfortable in their bodies and that is the real treasure of the show – to see their confidence and their joy while they do what they love.